Lapp, George Jay (1879-1951)

George Jay Lapp: missionary; born 26 May 1879 at Juniata, Nebraska, was one of the eight children of Samuel W. and Sarah (Gross) Lapp. He was married twice: (1) Esther Ebersole, 25 June 1905; (2) Fanny Hershey, 14 April 1920. Mrs. J. Lawrence Burkholder (Harriet) and Mrs. Ezra Camp (Lois) were daughters. He died 25 January 1951 at Goshen, Indiana.

George was an outstanding foreign missionary of the Mennonite Church (MC), having served nearly 40 years (1905-1945) in the Central Provinces of India. He was ordained to the ministry in 1905, and as bishop in India in 1928. He served as interim president of Goshen College from February 1918 to June 1919.

In India he was the founder and director of the Mennonite Bible School from 1910 to its merger with the Dhamtari Christian Academy in 1931. He was a member of the National Christian Council of India and under its direction made a study of rural life, which was published as The Christian Church and Rural India (Calcutta, 1938). He wrote and published in Hindi Menno Simons and the Mennonite Church (Jubbulpore, 1929) and Fundamental Doctrines of the Bible (Jubbulpore, 1933).